The present invention relates to a system that handles data to be transmitted by an infrared remote control device for remote-controlling electronic apparatuses, and a remote control transmitter for use in the same.
There are a great variety of conventional remote control transmitters (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9ctransmitterxe2x80x9d) now available. Among those, a kind of transmitter capable of remote-controlling a plurality of electronic apparatuses has come into wide use, such as a universal transmitter, a single unit of which can remote-control a television and a video tape recorder, for instance, manufactured by one company for its own brand name.
One example of the universal transmitter capable of remote-controlling a plurality of electronic apparatuses is a transmitter, which remotely controls a television and a video tape recorder equipped with a tuner. The transmitter is provided with operational keys for common use, having a function of controlling identical operations such as turning on and off, station selection, etc. In addition, the transmitter is so constructed that it generates an infrared ray signal in order to remotely control either of the television and the video tape recorder, when either one of them is selected by a separately provided TV/VTR selection switch.
A conventional universal transmitter of the kind mentioned above will now be described by referring to a circuit diagram.
FIG. 6 shows an essential portion of a circuit diagram of the conventional universal transmitter. Referring to the diagram, a reference numeral 1 represents a group of operational keys, a reference numeral 2 represents a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cMPUxe2x80x9d) having two combinations of transmissive data within an internal memory for remote-controlling a television and a video tape recorder, and a reference numeral 3 represents an infrared LED for transmitting a control signal output from the MPU 2 by converting it into an infrared ray signal. A reference numeral 4 represents a driving transistor for the infrared LED 3, a reference numeral 5 represents a current limiting resister connected in series with the infrared LED 3, and a reference numeral 6 represents a base resister for transferring the control signal of the MPU 2 to the driving transistor 4. Furthermore, a reference numeral 7 represents a ceramic oscillator for generating a reference signal, a reference numeral 8 represents a TV/VTR selection switch for selecting the data to be transmitted, and a reference numeral 9 represents a battery for supplying electric power to all the components.
Described below is an operation of the foregoing conventional universal transmitter.
When controlling a television, the TV/VTR selection switch 8 is shifted to a TV position first, and any one of the operational keys 1 is depressed. This causes the ceramic oscillator 7 to generates a reference signal, and the MPU 2 to operate at the same time for generating a control signal corresponding to the depressed key among the group of operational keys 1.
The control signal sent from the MPU 2 is input to the driving transistor 4 via the base resister 6, and amplified for driving the infrared LED 3 to blink, so as to control operation of the television.
Or, a video tape recorder can be controlled in the same manner as the above by shifting the TV/VTR selection switch 8 to a VTR position, in the case of operating the video tape recorder. In this way, both of the television and the video tape recorder can be remote-controlled with a single unit of the universal transmitter.
In the case of using the foregoing universal transmitter of the prior art for remote-controlling electronic apparatuses, however, there are often cases in that the transmissive data stored in the MPU 2 do not correspond with control data of a replaced or added electronic apparatus, if at least either one of the television and the video tape recorder being controlled is replaced with another product of a different manufacturer, or a new electronic apparatus is added. In such instances, the conventional universal transmitter becomes incapable of remote-controlling the replaced television or video tape recorder, or the additional electronic apparatus.
A remote control system of the present invention comprises a remote control signal analyzing/writing device, and a remote control transmitter. The remote control signal analyzing/writing device further comprises:
(a) a light receiving unit for receiving an infrared-ray signal adapted to remote-control an electronic apparatus, and converting it into an electric signal;
(b) an analyzing unit for analyzing the electric signal output by the light receiving unit, and converting it into a transmissive remote control data suitable for remote-controlling the electronic apparatus;
(c) a first microcomputer for controlling an operation of the entire device, and for writing the transmissive remote control data in a removable first nonvolatile memory; and
(d) a first electrical connector for receiving the removable first nonvolatile memory which receives an output data of the first microcomputer.
Also, the remote control transmitter further comprises:
(a) a second electrical connector for removably receiving the first nonvolatile memory;
(b) a second microcomputer for reading the transmissive remote control data from the first nonvolatile memory;
(c) an infrared-ray signal output unit for generating an infrared ray signal in response to an output of the second microcomputer; and
(d) a plurality of operational keys corresponding to remote control operations of the electronic apparatus.
With the foregoing system of the present invention, the transmitter is able to include the transmissive data for remote-controlling a replaced or a newly added electronic apparatus in addition to the originally stored data. As a result, the system makes a single unit of the transmitter capable of remote-controlling many electronic apparatuses.